


Some of the Stories are True

by BlackEyedGirl



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Post-Movie(s), Recovery, myth-making
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 10:23:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12839187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackEyedGirl/pseuds/BlackEyedGirl
Summary: "Thor is used to his people speaking of him". Thor, Loki, Asgard, and the stories told after the fall.





	Some of the Stories are True

**Author's Note:**

> Set post Thor: Ragnarok, both before and after the mid-credits scene.  
> Little bit of implied Jane/Thor, no other ships.

_Thor returned to Asgard-that-Was, the storms at his fingertips, and challenged Hela to a battle for sovereignty of that realm. He and his brother, Loki the deceiver, tricked the witch. They broke the branch on which Asgard stood and set that world on fire, smuggling its people away to build a new Asgard. Hela still burns on Asgard-that-Was, the Goddess of Death ruling as Queen of that dying realm. The brothers carried Asgard-that-Will-Be through space, seeking a new place on Yggdrasill to graft their world._

Thor is used to his people speaking of him. He grew up as the firstborn of the All-Father, wielder of Mjolnir – and even now, he is called a hero on Midgard. Amongst his own people, he was away for too long and returned too late, but they still talk.

He is less sure of how to react now. He is less sure of everything now. He cannot simply be a prince, a warrior, a hero. He has to be a king.

There is little privacy here. He cannot help but hear what they say. There are a few who insist that Thor brought the end down on them, which he can’t deny. More who whisper that the princes are trying their best but don’t know where they are leading this ship, which is all that remains of Asgard. Thor is not certain that he can deny that either. He has an idea in his head of their father standing on a cliff in Norway and that is the only guide he has; he has no words to make that image live.

He hears a child crying and looks for the source, seeing a mother lift a little boy into her arms. “Hush,” she says. “There are no monsters here.”

“But-” The child points out through the porthole into the void of space.

“And if there were,” his mother tells him, “the King would protect us. Is he not the Death-Slayer? What could be out in the darkness that he couldn’t beat?”

Thor startles at that. He thinks to correct her, but Heimdall catches his arm. 

“Would you take that from them?” Heimdall asks.

“I didn’t-” he objects. “Hela wasn’t _Death_ and even if she was, I didn’t kill her. _If_ she is even dead, Surtur did that. And if she isn’t, I destroyed Asgard for nothing.”

“She is gone,” Heimdall says. “Or as much as makes no difference. She isn’t following us. You made sure of that,” he keeps going over Thor’s objection, expression reassuring, “and _even if_ you don’t believe that...”

“What?”

“I think they know it’s not true, not entirely. They were all there to see what happened.”

“So why say it?” Thor asks.

Heimdall looks at him as if he should know the answer. “What difference does it make, if it helps them sleep at night?”

(Sitting in their room that evening, Thor asked Loki, “Were you afraid when we were children?”

“Afraid of what?” Loki asked. Which Thor supposed was his point. He didn’t remember being afraid: his father had been capable of repelling any monster that might have threatened their world. He didn’t even remember his mother needing to reassure him of that fact. It was just true.

But: “You used to have nightmares,” Thor remembered.

Loki’s hackles came up. “And you never did. I remember.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Thor told him. He could never say the right thing around Loki. “I have plenty of nightmares now.”

“Since Ragnarok?” Loki asked. He sounded genuinely curious, looking away from his book to meet Thor’s eyes.

“Since I first came to Earth.”

“That would do it,” Loki murmured. 

“What did you dream of, when we were children?” Thor asked. “Did you dream of monsters?”

Loki seemed to pick up the thread without Thor making it clearer. “I didn’t dream of anything making its way past our father, no. Being snatched from Asgard, abandoned in other realms, lost... which does go to show I really should have discovered my own heritage sooner.” He paused. “Other than that? Father being disappointed in me. Mother being angry with me.”

“And now?” Thor wasn’t sure that Loki would answer this.

“The edges of worlds,” Loki said. “Thanos. Monsters.” He looked at his hands and laughed. “And mother being angry with me.”

“The children dream of Asgard falling.”

“Of course they do. They saw it happening.” Loki sighed, and that always had a familiar sound in it, put-upon by Thor. “It’s not a failing in you that they’re frightened. Blame your sister if you must blame anyone. Or Odin for not telling you that you _had_ a sister. If they want to believe you slayed the Goddess of Death and carried them out of Asgard on your back to keep the nightmares at bay, that’s their decision. You’re doing fine.”

Thor threw a coin at Loki’s chest.

“Ow. Thank you for that.”

“Just checking.”)

 

*

Thor had known his friends were dead, had needed no one to tell him that news. If they lived, they would have been with Heimdall when Thor walked with him from across the universe. They would have been in the heart of the fighting, getting the people out. If they weren’t there, it was because they couldn’t be. Thor had known they were dead, but he hadn’t known how.

Their people tell stories. They tell them in defeat as in victory, in death as in life. So they tell the story of how Asgard fell, of every soul now feasting in Valhalla. 

This is the way Thor learns of how Volstagg and Fandral were slaughtered where they stood, rising to face Hela when she forced her way past Thor and Loki on the Bifrost. 

They tell the tale of the last battle of Asgard, every warrior who could hold a spear raising it to defend their world, and Hogun at the head of them. Every one of them lost within an hour, and Hogun the last of them to perish.

Thor finds himself weeping; he only notices it when Loki turns to look at him and Thor sees an odd expression cross his face. Loki is more open now when it is only them, or perhaps Thor only believes it so. 

Whichever is the truth, Loki says, “They bought the people time.”

“It shouldn’t have been-”

“No,” Loki agrees. “It was a tragedy and a waste but they gave their lives bravely, for a cause.” It isn’t like Loki to speak this way and perhaps something of that shows in Thor because Loki’s expression turns wry. “I don’t say it just to comfort you.”

“No? Would you tell me if you did?”

“Of course not,” he answers. “But be comforted anyway.”

“They died well,” Thor says. 

“You knew that already.”

“Yes. But I am glad they sing of them.”

 

*

_She is the Valkyrie-returning, screaming her rage even at Death herself, daring her to try and take the last of Asgard’s heroes. She wears the battledress of old and when she screams all of Asgard’s dead shield-maidens scream defiance with her._

“You don’t have to stay,” Thor tells Brunnhilde.

“That’s some welcome,” she tells him, sipping from a bottle of something he can’t identify. Thor considers the possibility that she has established a still on the ship already, and can’t discount it.

“I would _like_ you to stay,” he tells her. “But you didn’t want to be here in the first place.”

“Here, a floating refugee camp? No, not really. It’s a bit of a toss-up whether this beats Sakaar.”

“So you do wish for us to land you somewhere else?” Thor rubs at his temples.

Brunnhilde stares at him for a long moment, considering what she is about to say. “What happened to ‘the Valkyries defended the throne of Asgard’?”

“There is more to Asgard than the throne,” Thor says. “I don’t want you here unwillingly, and I don’t ask for your allegiance to me.”

She holds his gaze. “Ask for what you would have, then.”

“If you would stay? Defend the people of Asgard. Most of the warriors are dead. The people could use a protector, if you’d stay. But if you want to be somewhere else- Asgard can demand no more of you.” She came into the battle she hadn’t wanted, redressed herself as the last of the Valkyries, and if she wants to leave now Thor won’t say she hasn’t earned the right.

She sighs at him. “You and your brother will lead these people straight into another war.”

“We may be led into one.”

“Kings and Princes make wars,” she says. “The Valkyries are supposed to end them.”

“Does that mean you’ll stay?”

“I swear my allegiance to the people of Asgard,” she says. “I’ll stay while that’s what you need me for.” She points at him with the bottle. “If you could find me one or two more warriors, mind, it wouldn’t hurt.”

“I will see what I can do.”

(The children aren’t warriors, but they trained knowing they may need to become them one day.

When Thor heard the littlest girls screaming “The Valkyries will _end_ this fight,” and charging across the bay with wooden swords, he knew at whose knee they had been learning. He smiled.)

 

*

The ship is full of children. 

Thor isn’t always certain who’s supposed to be in charge of all of them. There are gaps in family groupings, babes in arms toted on the hips of youths still children themselves. Thor checks periodically as they slip past him, whether they are eating, bathing, sleeping. Some would clearly be rolling their eyes if they dared, while others blink softly at him. 

He sits to watch them, telling a story to each other. One of them – perhaps the leader of the group – is brandishing a training staff like a sword. “And then the wicked sorceress Hela, who Odin had defeated long ago – Asta, that’s you.”

“I don’t want to be Hela,” she says, frowning.

“Tough, we drew lots.” He takes a breath and continues. “Hela tried to steal the throne from the rightful prince, Thor, and she threw him and Prince Loki to a faraway world. Heimdall the Protector- Stian?”

Stian takes the staff which is apparently the Bifrost sword now.

“Heimdall hides the people away from the demon.”

“She wasn’t a demon,” Thor interrupts, as gently as he can manage. 

They all freeze to look at him. “Your highness?”

“She wasn’t a demon,” he repeats. “She was Odin’s daughter, she was kin to me and Loki.”

Somewhere behind him, without Thor realising, Loki has appeared. He coughs, but lets Thor continue. Thor tries to ignore him.

The child argues, “She was a monster, she killed...” He trails off, and Thor tries to read the face of the lost in the little one left behind, not crying.

“Yes,” Thor agrees. “She did terrible things. But we must not forget that she was of Asgard first, and our people, my Father, had a part in what she became.”

“You think we should forgive her?” the girl – Asta – demands. “Because she was one of us?”

Thor answers, “No. But we mustn’t pretend that she wasn’t one of us first. We have to be able to see wickedness in our own people, and courage outside them. Think of how Korg and his warriors came to help us. Doctor Banner comes from Midgard but he fought at our side. It only matters what Hela _did_. We shouldn’t pretend that she wasn’t Asgardian.”

They nod, solemn but still a little confused. 

Thor leaves them to their storytelling and finds Loki at his shoulder before he’s halfway to the bridge. Loki observes, “You can’t have it both ways.”

“What is it now?” Thor asks. Keeping up with the tangles Loki’s mind makes of a simple conversation is exhausting.

“Either Hela was your sister because you shared blood, though you never knew her, or I was your brother because we were raised together, though we share no blood.”

“I think we have spilled blood over each other often enough.”

Loki ignores the tease and asks, “Or is it that you claim us both as burdens?”

Thor had partially disavowed Loki once; he isn’t sure if Loki knows. He has sometimes tried to take responsibility for Loki’s actions, sometimes been shouted down by friends attempting to be kind, but he knows what he and Loki are. He says, “I claim Hela as our father’s daughter. He made her what she was, and then tried to hide her. In the throne room I saw...he was proud of her once.”

“And then he changed,” Loki says. “Long life will do that, I suppose. You’ve changed too.”

“And you,” Thor tells him. 

“Ah, yes, apparently I have changed to someone who is predictable.”

Thor smiles at the memory. “Sometimes.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“What, whether you’re a nuisance of a younger brother? Yes, Loki, frequently. I don’t need to claim that, it’s just a fact.”

Loki rolls his eyes and then, after a moment, jabs a sharp elbow into Thor’s ribs as if to prove the point. Thor thinks that his explanation was truthful enough. He can’t imagine the children ever telling a story where Loki was _not_ Thor’s brother. No matter what else they say of the two of them, bad and worse, they always manage to mention that.

 

*

_Hulk fought a mighty battle with Fenrir, and finally threw them both into the Sea of Space. Asgard’s magic, recognising him as a hero of the realm, protected him from the fall, and renamed him Hulk Wolfsbane. And though he could challenge Thor in strength, he stopped his fighting at the King’s call and rode with the rest of Asgard when the planet fell._

Hulk is throwing empty barrels at Thor’s head. “Bored.”

“Yes, I know,” Thor agrees, “Trust me, I would much rather be taking you down in a round or two, but-”

Hulk laughs, which is always an unsettling sound. “Hulk wins.”

“No he wouldn’t, but my point is-”

“Hulk _wins_.”

“Fine, but do you remember five minutes ago, when Banner and I were attempting to fix this converter?”

Hulk throws another barrel. “Boring.”

“All right, but Banner didn’t always turn into you just because he got bored with restoring air cleaning systems, so what I need to know is... When Banner is-”

“Puny Banner,” Hulk interjects.

“Puny Banner, yes, when he’s not here... is it because there’s something here that angers him, or scares him?”

“Hulk never scared.”

“I know, but Banner is, and the two of you keep switching, and is that because Banner thinks something worse is coming, or...” Thor gestures in frustration. “But you don’t remember, because the two of you don’t see each other. I could tell you anything, or him anything, and all either of the two of you will remember is that you wish the other one would go away for good. Which is not helpful, let me tell you. I need _both of you_.”

“Know that Thor lied.”

Thor blinks at the change of direction. “Lied about what?”

“Told Hulk liked Hulk better, told Banner liked Banner better. Lied.”

“How did you-?” Thor doesn’t think there was anyone one else to hear either conversation.

“Loki showed us.”

Except possibly an invisible brother. Although of all the things for Loki to tell _either_ Banner or Hulk, he would choose- Hulk is leaning forward and Thor hadn’t thought he would be really angry about this, given everything else that happened, but he taps one giant finger on Thor’s forehead. Thor topples backwards and catches himself on the wall.

“Loki showed,” Hulk says.

And Thor realises what he means.

(Weeks after the battle, Banner was still Hulk. Thor had known that Banner made the sacrifice willingly, aware that he might not come back, but he had still made it for _Thor’s_ people. Afraid of losing himself more than he was afraid of dying, Banner had let Hulk take over all the same.

Thor had counselled him, coaxed him, explained that they were safe now – lied, perhaps – and still nothing would move him.

Loki had thrown up his hands eventually. “I am doing this only because we are in desperate need of more living space, and he takes up far too much room.” He had taken a step towards Hulk, and another one, and Thor was never entirely sure of how much of his real self Loki showed but he couldn’t read his expression as anything other than fear. He remembered that conversation about nightmares.

Loki had murmured, “Stay still,” and reached up to press his fingertips against Hulk’s head.

They had been in contact for only a moment before Hulk reared back, making to throw Loki aside before Thor caught his fist. It shrunk in his grip, Hulk folding back into Banner.

Banner had nodded at Loki. “Well, that was a trip.”

“You’re welcome.”)

Loki must have brought their memories a little closer together.

Thor asks, “Do you remember fighting Fenrir?”

“Threw wolf over the water.”

“Yes. Before that, you were Banner, and he let you...” Thor is still not sure of the mechanism by which Banner twists into Hulk and vice-versa.

Hulk says, “Banner called Hulk. Needed Hulk to fight wolf.”

“Yes,” Thor agrees. “But I don’t think he needed you to help maintain the ship, so is there a reason...? And this isn’t to say that I prefer Banner, you understand, it’s just that _right now_ I could do with someone who can operate a welder.”

“Hulk can-”

There is absolutely no way Thor is going to give Hulk a welding iron.

Even Hulk seems to realise that. He shrugs. “People like Hulk.”

“Here? On the ship?”

“Yes. Not like on Earth. Banner thinks too much.”

Thor gallantly refrains from making the obvious point. “Yes, I know, but is there any chance he could come back for a moment anyway?”

Hulk makes a face full of disgust but, a minute later, Thor is looking at Banner again. Banner takes a few deep breaths and asks, “What do the two of you talk about?”

“Smashing things,” Thor says.

Banner shakes his head. “Okay.” He holds his hand out for the welding iron. “Did you get anything else done while I was gone?”

“They like you too, you know,” Thor says. “The people here. They know what you gave up for them.”

“But they’re glad I did it,” Banner says. “They wouldn’t mind too much if I never came back.”

“I’m _glad_ you did,” Thor answers. “Or we would have been slaughtered on the Bifrost. And I’m glad you’re here now, keeping the ship running.” He shrugs. “I will admit that these are probably not the days our people will sing epics about. Although perhaps they should.”

“I’m not sure I can see that happening,” Banner says, distracted. He calls down the hallway, “Could I get some volunteers for duct climbing?”

The ship-builders who had disappeared out of the engine room when Banner changed start to return. Almost immediately they resume a debate about the best way to maintain the longevity of ship’s parts in a voyage when they don’t know how long they’ll be travelling. 

“There’s a proverb where I’m from,” Banner says. “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.”

Kjell nods. “Apt for these times.” He claps Banner on the back and they go back to arguing. Thor has never known a group of people so inclined to shouting excitedly at each other as scientists, and he grew up with Volstagg and Fandral. 

These are probably not the days that will end up immortalised on the walls of the new Asgard they hope to build when they land. But these days are the only reason they’ll get there. Thor is thankful for them.

 

*

Thor can’t be certain, but he doesn’t think he’s ever seen Heimdall startle before. He doesn’t like it. “What is it?”

Heimdall is staring into the middle distance, which undoubtedly means he’s staring at something else entirely. He smiles.

“ _What_?” Thor demands.

“I see her.”

Thor raises his hands, seeking elaboration. “Who?”

“Lady Sif.”

“...I don’t understand.”

“I told you I didn’t see her fall.”

“Everyone fell that day.” Thor knows that. He has mourned them all.

Heimdall says, “She was called back to Asgard when you went to find Odin. She had been in Vanaheim seeking answers for what was happening in the Nine Realms. She saw something in Loki’s disguise.”

“That does sound like Sif,” Thor says. It wasn’t exactly that Sif had _disliked_ Loki before, but the two of them in a room together, even back when they were children, was a recipe for biting disagreements that could last days.

Heimdall says, “I saw Volstagg call her back and heard her answer him. Then your brother distracted me by disappearing into a portal on a street in Midgard.” Heimdall’s face betrays his amusement.

“I’m glad there was someone else to see that.”

“Something must have prevented her from trying to return immediately,” Heimdall says, “and by the time she did-”

“Hela was on Asgard and you had removed the Bifrost sword,” Thor fills in. “Are you saying she’s been on Vanaheim since then? Are you _sure_ it’s her?”

Heimdall looks at him. “Do you doubt my eyes, your majesty?”

“Never, of course not, it’s just- Brunnhilde!”

Across the hall, she raises her head. When Thor beckons her, she sighs and walks to meet them. “You yelled?”

“It is very important that you listen to what I’m about to tell you.”

Brunnhilde glares but he can see her attention draw to a point. “Yes?”

“When we find Sif, you need to let _me_ tell her that you’re a Valkyrie. We’ll have to wait for the right moment, it’s going to make her head explode.”

“And is that something we’re aiming for or trying to avoid? Also, I’m not playing along with your jokes any more than with your brother’s. Wait. Your friend Sif?”

“You play along with Hulk’s jokes,” Thor points out.

“Of course I do, he’s actually funny. Mostly when he throws stuff at your head. So, Sif? Who died on Asgard?”

“Heimdall has found her.”

“That’s great.” Her smile is more than usually sincere. “But I’m still not sure why you yelled for me.”

Heimdall looks at her. “With the exception of Prince Thor, Lady Sif was always the most passionate about hearing tales of the Valkyrie. As far as I remember, she wasn’t convinced that Thor’s disqualification meant that she shouldn’t become one herself.”

Thor growls. “I had to promise to quest with her to Nidavellir to fetch that blasted sword of hers before she would agree to stay part of my guard.”

“Well you’ll have to do without,” Brunnhilde says. “Because any woman halfway competent with a weapon is coming with me the moment we find her. And _I’ll_ decide when to spring that on her.” She stalks off, grinning. 

Thor shakes his head. “I’ll tell her first. As soon as we find her. Do you know how we can-?”

“She’s headed for Earth,” Heimdall says. “She always knew your mind.”

 

*

_Thor the King decrees that Asgard is where their people are. He declares that his brother Loki the Trickster is of Asgsard, though he was born on Jotunheim. He makes anyone who fought in the last battle of Asgard-the-World a part of their people._

“That’s not how I meant it,” Thor explains.

Korg tilts his head. “So we’re not Asgardian now?”

“No, I mean- yes, if you like, but I’m not _declaring dominion_ or anything like that. You aren’t conquered and you don’t need to be Asgardian to come with us.”

“But we can come with you?”

“Of course you can. I just don’t want you to think that it’s because-”

“Because Loki told us to follow him?” Korg asks. 

“Well, it definitely shouldn’t be because of that.” 

Korg shrugs. “This seems like a nice enough place.”

Thor feels the need to point out, “This is an outmoded ship, barely big enough to hold us even when half of the occupants are sleeping at any one time.”

He shrugs again. “Miek enjoys the company. And it’s better than Sakaar.”

Thor gives up. “You are welcome to come with us for as long as you want, or to leave whenever you like.”

Korg nods. “Thanks. Miek isn’t sure about the whole changing peoples issue – it’s a complex philosophical question - but we’ll give it some thought.”

(Posed with the same issue, Loki said, “Apparently you declared me Asgardian.”

“No.” Thor answered.

“So I’m not?”

“Loki. Do you _want_ to be Asgardian?”

“I’m not sure that’s how it works.”

Thor wasn’t sure any more either, his head was so turned around by hearing his own words recited back to him. “I will call you Asgardian, unless you ask me otherwise, because you are my brother and a prince of Asgard. The people, who have a myriad of other complaints about your position, do not question your heritage. Everyone else is gone. The only person ambivalent about this, possibly the only person who _cares_ about it, is you.”

“The people don’t care about it because they claim you declared it as fact,” Loki says. “And for whatever reason, they’re reluctant to challenge you on the issue.”

“I’m not empowered to _make_ Asgardians.”

Loki stared at him. “You’re the King, of course you are.”)

 

*

He has nightmares which don’t feel like prophecy, which nevertheless wake him with yelling and sweat running down his body. In one of these there’s a problem with the ship, it vents them all into the darkness of space, and everyone dies. In another a warship – infinitely more equipped than this passenger vessel – blows them into dust and Thor doesn’t even have a moment to defend them.

This feels a little like that.

Loki reacts first. “Shit. Okay, I have an _idea_ how they might have found us.”

“Loki....”

Loki plucks a hole in the air and pulls out the Tesseract. “Can I claim that I was saving our artefacts?”

“ _Why_ would you have taken that thing from the treasure room?” Thor demands.

“As a bartering chip.” 

It takes all of Thor’s growing powers of self-control not to slam Loki through the bulkhead and doom them all before the ship even reaches them.

“For us, you idiot,” Loki elaborates. “When we landed on Earth and merely appealing to the mortals’ sense of decency didn’t lead to them welcoming us as beloved refugees to their overpopulated little world.”

Thor would like very much to believe him, and if they survive this he may have time later to discover whether he does. In the meantime: “Can you hide it?”

“I _was_ hiding it, how do you think Heimdall didn’t see it?” Loki takes a breath. “When all else fails, tell as many lies as possible, as quickly as possible.”

“Okay?”

“This may not work,” Loki warns.

Thor asks, “What may-?”

The Loki he had been talking to shimmers and disappears.

“Damn you.” Thor runs for the bridge, listening as booming voices bounce around the ship talking about arming weapons they don’t have, warning the warship to back away before the forces of Asgard destroy them. He looks out of the viewscreen to see a shimmering fleet pop into existence around their ship.

Banner is standing at the console. “A pod ejected.”

“Did you see where it went?”

“For a moment or too, before it started looking like that giant star-destroyer-thing over there.” He nods at one of the illusory fleet. “Loki?”

“I’m not sure what he’s planning.”

His brother’s voice is a disembodied shriek of rage in the air beside Thor’s ear. “Would you _run_ , damn you?!”

Heimdall moves first, pushing the ship into speeds Thor wasn’t sure it was capable of. The conjured fleet scatters in all directions, firing wildly though Thor knows it can’t actually be capable of harming their pursuer. 

Thor wrestles back control of the ship when the danger is passing. They can’t go too far away, or Loki – the real Loki commanding one of those figments – won’t catch them up. But there is no sign of him, a full day later.

“He had the Tesseract?” Banner asks. “Maybe he was planning to get back that way.”

Perhaps. But he isn’t here.

 

*

_And when we landed on our new home, Thor the King called a storm from the blue skies of Midgard. He threw lightning into the ground like a spear and declared this place a new Asgard born from the flames._

It wasn’t quite like that. 

Thor will admit that he _did_ call up a storm, not entirely intentionally. He walked out into the open air of Midgard, breathed in the smell of fresh air and ocean, felt solid ground beneath his feet, and then the crackle of lightning in his palm. 

It arcs from him, stabs _through_ him into the ground and all he feels is relief. The soil underneath him fuses, hissing when fresh rain falls on the super-heated ground. Thor grew tired of space travel months ago.

Banner, walking behind him, quietly suggests, “It might be an idea to keep the magic storms to a minimum until we let people know why you’re here.”

“I’m here with you.”

“And I know you think that’s going to help, but I’m not very popular even if this was my own country.”

“It’s your world.”

“Well, apparently it’s going to be yours for a little while at least, so maybe we don’t set it on fire?”

Brunnhilde snorts. “He didn’t mean it. Control: _not_ exactly his strong suit.”

Thor is debating with himself whether to argue about that when he sees Heimdall look towards the hills. “Heimdall?”

“We’re going to have company shortly.”

Thor looks behind him, checking the people are still in the ship. It’s defensible, barely, if it comes to that. He’s not so naive, not when it comes to risking the lives of his people. 

Ahead of them there is a flash, and Loki is suddenly at the head of their landing party. He exhales and his form shivers, changing to his all-black Midgardian ensemble. 

Thor can’t help it, potential diplomatic incident notwithstanding. “In Odin’s name, where have you been?”

“Oh you know, making mischief. Get into any trouble while I was gone?”

Brunnhilde asks, “Can I punch him again?”

“Now,” Loki says, “that wouldn’t be a good first impression for our hopefully-hosts, would it?” He smirks. “Everyone have their story straight?”

 

*

Sif descends in a SHIELD helicopter and when she runs at Thor he isn’t quite sure if she means to embrace him or strangle him. Even in the middle of it, he’s not certain.

“ _Never_ do that again,” she demands, arms around his neck.

“I think destroying Asgard is the kind of thing even I can only manage to do once, Sif.”

“I couldn’t reach Asgard and this seemed as likely a place as any to be the reason, so I came here. Where _everyone_ could tell me that Asgard had fallen, because even here they knew it, but _no one_ knew if any of you had made it out.”

“Sif.”

“Mortal sorcery is not designed to look over distances like that. It took months before I could get any word from Vanaheim of what had happened.”

“We are all that’s left.” Thor says it before he can think of a way to make the truth sweeter, before he can try to comfort her.

“I know,” she says. “The feasting halls of Valhalla are crowded these last years.” She takes a breath and smiles at him. “But I hear you found one of our Valkyries.”

Thor stares at her.

“Oh come on,” Sif says. “Did you think to sneak that one past me?”

“No. I just hoped to casually drop it into conversation and see if it was possible for the Lady Sif to faint from excitement.”

“And what happened when _you_ discovered it?”

Brunnhilde descends from a perch above them, a space in the wall which was almost certainly not designed for habitation. She still likes to bolt somewhere she can’t be observed. Brunnhilde tells Sif, “He was at great pains to explain to me how wonderful it was that women could form their own band of warriors, and also that he enjoyed the company of women too much.”

Sif laughs. “I hope he also mentioned that when we played at being Valkyrie, I always commanded our forces. He lacked a few of the necessary skills.” She shakes her head at Thor. “I don’t know how you are such a terrible horseman”

“I fly, I don’t need horses.” Thor thinks that’s obvious.

Brunnhilde and Sif give him equally quelling glares. Sif extends her hand to Brunnhilde. “I have a sword, sister. I’m sorry I couldn’t have used it against Hela.”

Brunnhilde clasps Sif’s arm. “I have a feeling we’ll find a use for it even now.”

“Especially with this one in charge.”

Thor had known even at the time that he would come to regret asking the Valkyrie to swear allegiance to Asgard and not its throne. He hadn’t quite anticipated it being so soon, but what is it Banner says about preparing for the worst? He imagines, all things considered, that there are worse things than Sif and Brunnhilde immediately deciding to test each other’s mettle on their unfinished training ground. Fewer more dangerous things, to be sure, but many worse.

 

*

They are constructing a dining hall when Heimdall stops with a sly smile. “You have a visitor.”

Thor steadies the ladder under Halvor and goes to investigate.

Jane is picking her way through the building site. “Hi. This is awk- is this awkward? I don’t even know any more.” She laughs. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He swings her into a hug and she laughs again, holding onto him tightly. Thor says, “Welcome to Asgard. Perhaps less impressive-looking than the last time you were here, though the circumstances are better. Somewhat.”

“I’m not infested by an ancient deadly force,” she concedes. “And you’re wearing a tool belt.”

He looks down to check. They’re mixing Asgardian methods with Midgardian materials and it requires greater delicacy than he thought himself capable of. As well as a variety of screwdrivers.

“So,” Jane says after a moment. “You were right about the dreams meaning something bad was happening.”

“Though not about what they meant.” He had imagined a battle he could win.

She steps away but keeps her arm around his waist. “I’m sorry about Asgard.”

He has said it so often that it’s instinctive. “Asgard isn’t a place, it’s a people.”

“And you lost people.” 

“Yes.” 

“And Mjolnir.” Jane shuffles awkwardly. “That was actually one of the reasons I came here today.”

“Mjolnir?”

“Sort of. Do you remember when I wanted to run some tests on it?” He nods. “And I took, I swear, a tiny tiny little sample.”

Thor stares at her.

“Which was definitely nothing to do with it breaking.”

Thor can’t help laughing. “I know that. I was just thinking that it was impossible for you to have removed anything from it, and then that of course you did. If anyone is worthy to study her, it would have been you.”

She flushes a little, but she’s not paying attention to it, more concerned with telling him the rest of her observations. “I had to check the composition. Odin was right, it was the heart of a star, and not a star anywhere near Earth, but I wanted to see if it could be replicated.”

“You tried to reproduce Mjolnir?”

“Not exactly.” She squeezes his arm. “I didn’t know if you would want that, and anyway the alloy isn’t exactly the same, but it has similar conductive properties.” She reaches into her bag and pulls something out. 

Thor takes it from her and tests the weight in his hand. It’s a spearhead, waiting to be finished.

Jane frowns uncertainly at him. “I was in Wakanda. Have you spoken to them yet?”

“The diplomatic situation is still... complicated. But I know their king spoke on our behalf when we landed.”

“They’re really good with metals. One of their scientists helped me with this, the work she does is really-”

“Jane.”

“So I guess I wanted to bring you a welcome gift. I wasn’t sure how welcoming everyone else was being.”

“They’re trying,” Thor says. “They don’t know what to do with us. I keep telling them we’re not invading, but that only seems to make things worse. Loki thinks we should lift the whole city into the sky and get around the national boundary issues that way.”

“Can he do that?”

“Between the two of us, possibly, but I’m not sure it would send the right message.” Thor turns the spearhead over in his hands. “And I’ve already been warned about this one, but as it’s a gift...” Thor raises it to the sky and laughs in delight when the storm clouds obediently form above him. He lowers his arm partway and a glorious line of lightning is channelled through the spear to pierce the sky.

Jane runs her hands through her hair, suddenly drenched. “So that works.”

“It does,” Thor says. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” She reaches up to tug on the short ends of his own hair, growing out too slowly for his liking. “What happened here?”

“You aren’t concerned about my eye?” he asks.

Her hand slides to his cheek, below the golden covering. “I heard about the fight. Tell me about what happened before that.”

 

*

_Heimdall the far-seer is the first to warn the worlds of what is coming. He sees tidings of their new kingdom aflame, a second fall, and takes word to the King and the Prince. The cycles of war are turning faster and faster, and the future of their realm is in doubt._

They could only ever run from this war for so long. If it was just him, Thor might have gone looking for it, heedless of his father’s well-taught lessons. He has to stop it before it reaches Earth, but that doesn’t mean he can abandon his people to charge into battle.

They had known it was coming, but not when, nor how he would strike. Thor holds council in Asgard with various divisions of Avengers, heritage of a schism that happened when both he and Banner were gone. Eventually, time and desperation leading, they forge together again. Banner, himself for weeks now, sighs and calls to Captain Rogers, “I’m going to the armoury, I’ll see you in the jet.”

Thor goes to make his own arrangements. They’re waiting for him: Loki, Heimdall, Brunnhilde and Sif. Banner slips in through the door, a Hulk-sized helm under his arm. “Have you told him yet?” he asks Thor.

Thor turns to Loki and coughs. “Well, brother, it seems you are getting a third stint as King.” Loki opens his mouth. “I know you may want to get as far away from Midgard as possible, since the war is almost certainly going to end up following us here. But I have to go and _try_ to end this before it starts, and even if you could take our people with you by your magic, where could you take them that Thanos wouldn’t find you all? You’ll be safer staying here, and maybe you can augment the protections Midgard will offer.”

Loki stares at him. “What _are_ you talking about? I’m coming with you.”

All Thor can think to say is, “One of us has to stay here.”

“Why?” Loki asks. “The most important thing to be done is taking him down, and useful as your friends are with brute force, this is going to take more than that. In addition, fond as I am of my own skin, if the Mad Titan is to be ended then I want to be there to watch.”

Thor bristles. “You’re suggesting _I_ stay behind?”

“No. As I said. Fairly clearly, or so I thought. I’m suggesting we _both_ go and risk our lives facing a probably immortal enemy, and leave Heimdall in charge. Which he almost certainly would be anyway, if you left _me_ in charge. You do recall that even when I was passing as the Allfather, Heimdall took off into the woods to start an insurrection?”

“You tried to arrest me for treason,” Heimdall observes. “And I still didn’t try to overthrow you.”

“My point exactly.” Loki turns back to Thor. “And in the absence of either of us, Heimdall smuggled the population of a ship into safety, under Hela’s nose. If it should come to it...”

Thor turns to Heimdall. “You will protect our people.” It’s not a question.

Nor does Heimdall treat it as one. He rests his hand on the hilt of his sword and stares calmly back at Thor. “I will.”

Thor looks over at his brother. There is a larger realisation here than simply knowing that Loki would come with him into danger rather than wait at home in power. “It never mattered which of us sat on the throne,” Thor says slowly.

The corner of Loki’s mouth turns up; it’s a smile Thor dimly recognises. “Well...” Loki says, “it mattered a little.”

Thor nods. “But not today.”

Loki rolls his eyes. “If I were planning to get you killed and steal the throne, there would be easier ways.”

Sif interjects, gesturing at Brunnhilde. “Especially with the two of us at his back.”

“Oh no.” Loki shakes his head. “The two of you stay here.”

“After everything you just said about danger, and what needs to be done?” she asks, stepping towards him.

“Yes,” Loki says. “After all of that. Because if Thor and I should fall-” Thor doesn’t see Sif’s expression but Loki repeats, “ _If we should fall_ , Lady Sif, then the two of you will have a choice to make, between fighting to the last and running.”

“And you will run,” Thor tells her. “It will be the most difficult thing Asgard has ever asked of you, but you will take our people and run until you bring them to safety.”

Brunnhilde nods and says it as though the words are painful to her. “We protect the people, not the throne.”

There is a moment where Thor thinks Sif is going to suggest splitting the two of them, so she can accompany Thor into this battle. But there are so few of them now, and fewer still warriors of note. Thor and Loki will be the first line of Asgard’s defence; the Valkyries and Heimdall will be the last.

When they retell the tale - which spreads though they were alone in the room with doors closed - their lines get muddled. In some versions, Thor suggests the choice and Loki the flight, and in still more only Thor speaks. It is much longer afterwards, with it clearer and clearer that Loki has not returned, that his brother is given the words of advice and the warning.

 

*

_Loki the Serpent-Hearted, though he had cheated death twice, could not talk his way out of the final battle with the Mad Titan. The Norn Sisters sever the thread of his fate and he falls from the tree of worlds. Thor the King, defender of all Asgardians, swears to recover his brother from Death’s clutches, and orders a search for him. Even Heimdall, seer of all, cannot find Loki, and declares that wherever the Silvertongue has fallen, it is outside the worlds that are known._

Thor disputes that he is refusing to accept Loki’s death. It’s only that he has already mourned Loki twice – three times if he counts the month Loki went missing before they landed on Midgard. He can’t escape the thought that the moment he actually _believes_ Loki gone will be the moment he returns, laughing at Thor for the sentiment.

Heimdall has been unable to see Loki before, all of Asgardian magic unable to find him, and all of Midgard’s science. Thor will believe his brother gone when he meets his own death and finds Loki waiting for him (probably laughing).

In the meantime, he doesn’t wait. He returns to Asgard-on-Earth and prepares his people for whatever is coming to them next.

 

*

Stark gestures around the hall. “You need a table, sort of _this_ shape.” He sketches a rough circle in the centre of the room. There’s a mixture of Asgardians and Midgardians dispersed through their hub chatting amongst themselves, as well as a few who claim neither realm. (Korg and Miek are still considering the implications; Banner and Hulk are having an argument about which of them claims which realm.) 

“Is the shape of the table important?” Thor asks. He has no particular feelings about tables, but he can have something arranged if it matters to Stark. Although Stark’s own furniture tends to metallic and computerised, which wouldn’t fit well in these rooms.

Heimdall laughs under his breath. He’s standing by the wall, keeping watch. “It’s a Midgardian tale.”

“Yep,” Stark acknowledges. “About a king who got all of his warriors together with a magician and ruled in peace and prosperity yaddayaddayadda. They had a round table, all of them sitting there discussing, I don’t know, the dragon issues and where they’d got to with various quests.”

Brunnhilde snorts. “We have bigger issues than dragons.”

Stark hums. “Sure. God I miss the old days.”

Thor asks, “They - in the tale - they lived like that for all of their days?”

“Um.” Stark makes a face. “No. There was an issue with a witch and the queen and some stuff I don’t remember with the castle. Arthur – that’s the king – he goes to sleep for centuries-”

“Like Odinsleep?” Thor asks.

“I guess so. And the wizard, Merlin, he lives forever waiting around, or I think in some of the stories, does he turn into a tree, Bruce?”

“Or gets trapped in a cave.” Banner is pouring over a tablet Stark brought him, drawing out the new connections between the realms. “When did you develop an interest in mythology?”

“Oh you know, the last year or so,” Stark answers. “Can’t imagine why.”

Banner grins back at him.

Thor asks, “Does he wake up? The King in the tale?”

Stark looks over. “Yeah, he does. His people need him, and he wakes up and leads them out of it.”

“With the magician?”

“Stories seem a little unclear on that one, but why not?” One of the children rushes by and Stark steadies her. “Lila, what the hell?”

“Arvid’s going to show me a bird!”

“We have birds all over the place, what’s the- fine, fine, but when you come back we need to have a conversation about the terrifying predominance of ornithology amongst our people.” She keeps running and he muses, “Also entomology.”

“Arachnology,” Banner corrects absently.

“We have both,” Stark says. Then: “Yeah?” He’s looking down at another child, one of Asgard’s, and when Thor pays more attention he recognises her as Eira, Volstagg’s eldest-but-one.

She asks, sounding dubious, “The sorcerer became a tree?”

“Hey, your culture has a whole thing with trees,” Stark says, “don’t act like we’re the only ones who get over-involved with a metaphor. Although, given what we know now about the possibilities with molecular transformation, and retention of consciousness in primarily organic material... Bruce, come here a second, I need to model this.” He drags Banner around the bench and shows the screen to Eira. “How does this sound...”

People think Stark doesn’t like children. Thor will freely concede that Stark has no idea what to do with infants, Midgardian, Asgardian or otherwise. But give him a child asking questions, and he will talk to them until the sky darkens. 

Thor lets the noise of it wash over him until he hears Eira ask, “And then the King’s voice woke him, at the end of times, and he came back to life?”

“I mean, theoretically, the resonances could restart protocols and ‘bring him back to life’ if you look at it that way. I’m not sure _I_ would, but you do you.”

“Tony doesn’t believe in anything so prosaic as laws of nature,” Banner says. 

“We don’t believe in a return from Valhalla,” Eira tells them. 

Stark tilts his head. “No. Neither do we, really. Barring a few religions’ views on a few individuals. We’re big believers in bringing people back before they can fall all the way there though. And this guy wasn’t the whole way gone, remember, he was more... sleeping. Hibernating? What’s a good comparison here?”

“Lost,” Thor says. “Partway trapped in another realm.” 

Stark considers this. “Could be, yeah.” He raps his fingers on the table. “It’s only a story, buddy.”

 

*

Thor is half-listening to the play. He never had a love of theatrics, and he saw this story from the inside. They tell it again now and it seems they cannot remember it correctly.

“Loki let himself fall from the Bifrost, out of the Nine Realms, and learned how to step from the branches of the tree of worlds. He walked between them, bringing chaos and change to all realms.”

They can never seem to decide whether Loki is the herald of disaster, the cause of it, or the one who brings it to an end. It changes through the tale, the closer they get to Ragnarok and Thanos.

One of the youths is portraying Loki, draped in green and waving a borrowed sword.

“-but this is my home, and I will defend it with you, brother.”

Thor can’t remember Loki saying anything so unambiguous about either Asgard or his family.

The one playing Thor says, “If we should fall, I will see you in Valhalla. We both die with honour.”

In fact, Thor had been very clear in telling Loki that he wasn’t to die, since they both had unfinished responsibility to their people. He had perhaps mentioned that as Loki had usurped the throne twice, there was particular onus on him to survive and return to make sure of their safety. Loki hadn’t listened. He never did.

Their storyteller is telling what happened at the end. “As he had done before, Loki returned to his brother’s side and fought to safeguard Asgard. Even in his fall, those who knew him believed that he was not dead, only walking the spaces between the worlds. When Asgard needed both of the brothers, Loki the Trickster would return to his place alongside Thor the King.” 

Thor hears the footsteps behind him first, moving to one side and then switching to the other, away from his blindside. A shadow appears at the corner of his eye but Thor doesn’t move. He doesn’t reach backwards. 

After a moment, he is jolted by the shadow leaning over him and pressing its chin solidly, painfully, into the meat of Thor’s shoulder. Loki asks, “Did you miss me?”

Thor reaches then, drawing Loki sharply against his side. He turns to see his brother, gaunt and shining with magic and grinning at him without remorse. He says, “We didn’t mourn you this time.”

“So I hear. They tell a lovely story about me, were you not tempted to contradict them?”

“Loki.”

“Are you going to ask me where I’ve been?”

“I’m more interested in why you came back.”

“Apparently my king has need of me, and I return to his side.”

“That’s funny,” Thor says, “because the brother I remember was far too clever to do anything for me alone.”

“You always did credit me with more intelligence than anyone else,” Loki says, and it’s fond. “Epics could be written about the things I have done on your behalf. Of course, some of it was just to annoy you...”

“But this?” Thor asks.

“Something new is coming.”

“A threat?”

“Perhaps.” 

“And you chose to come here.”

“Someone told me once it was my home,” Loki says. “And something about a people being more than a place. I can’t think who that would have been.”

“Sounds like quite a tale,” Thor says. “Worthy of being remembered.”

Loki glares and grumbles under his breath. “Don’t get smug. I’m the one who apparently defeated Death three times and still returned to protect you.”

“You should make sure they include that in the new version of the play,” Thor says, squeezing Loki until he gasps. “We’ll have to tell them.” 

He lets the proceedings come to a stuttering halt, as the actors and audience recognise Loki’s return. Brunnhilde definitely looks as though she wants to punch him again. The growing numbers of their reformed Guard look very unhappy about a sorcerer appearing in the Hall without warning, Prince of tales or not. Thor supposes it depends which parts of the tales they had been listening to.

Thor doesn’t much care what they say about him in the stories. It only matters that there are people left to tell them.


End file.
